The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of alprazolam on the stress that Korean raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides koreensis) may experience while caught in a live trap by measuring their serum cortisol response. The animals were placed in a live trap with or without being pretreated with oral doses of alprazolam. In both groups, pre-trap blood samples were initially collected without anesthesia before the animals were positioned in the live trap; then post-trap blood samples were collected after the animals had remained in the live trap for 2 h. Changes in cortisol levels were observed using a chemiluminescent immunoassay. The level of cortisol increased in the control group and decreased in the alprazolam-pretreatment group (p < 0.05). In this study, we demonstrated that alprazolam pretreatment reduced stress during live trap capture.
Alprazolam/*therapeutic use ; Animals ; Anti-Anxiety Agents/*therapeutic use ; Anxiety/*drug therapy ; Hydrocorti ; *Raccoon Dogs ; Republic of Korea ; Restraint, Physical/*veterinary

OBJECTIVETo compare therapeutic effects of neck clustered needling and medication on insomnia so as to search for a better method for treatment of insomnia.

METHODSSeventy-six insomnia patients were randomly allocated to an acupuncture group and a medication group, 38 cases in each group. The acupuncture group was treated by neck clustered needling, twice each week, 10 sessions constituting one course, and the medication group by oral administration of Alprazolam, before sleeping each day, 5 weeks constituting one course. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score was used for assessment of therapeutic effects, and the therapeutic effect and changes of PSQI scores before and after treatment were observed in the both groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 92.1% in the acupuncture group and 89.5% in the medication group with no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The cured rate of 34.2% and the cured and markedly effective rate of 84.3% in the acupuncture group were significantly higher than 7.900 and 36.9% in the medication group (both P < 0.01). Comparisons of the differences before and after treatment in scores of various factors between the two groups showed that the acupuncture group was better than the medication group in sleep quality, hypnotic use, activity of daily living and the improvement of the total score (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), but the medication group was better than the acupuncture group in improvement of falling-asleep time (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic effect of the neck clustered needling on insomnia is better than that of the medicine.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Aged ; Alprazolam ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical efficacy differences between acupuncture at back- points of five , Geshu (BL 17), Shenmen (HT 7) and regular medication for the treatment of menopausal insomnia.

METHODSA total of 128 female patients of menopausal insomnia were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 64 cases in each one. Four patients in the observation group and 2 patients in the control group dropped out during the treatment. The patients in the observation group were treated with acupuncture at Feishu (BL 13), Xinshu (BL 15), Pishu (BL 20), Ganshu (BL 18), Shenshu (BL 23), Geshu (BL 17) and Shenmen (HT 7), once a day, and there was an interval of 2 days between every 5 days of treatment. The patients in the control group were treated with oral administration of alprazolam (0.4 mg or 0.8 mg) before sleep. Three-week treatment was taken as one course, and totally three courses were given in the two groups. Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), levels of estradiol (E), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were observed before treatment and 30 days after treatment; the efficacy was evaluated 30 days after treatment.

RESULTSEach item score and total score of PSQI 30 days after treatment were lower than those before treatment in the two groups (all <0.05), the scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (all <0.05). The levels of E 30 days after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the two groups (both <0.05), but the level of FSH and LH 30 days after treatment were lower than those before treatment in the two groups; the level in the observation group was superior to that in the control group (all <0.05). The total effective rate was 98.3% (59/60) in the observation group, which was better than 95.2% (59/62) in the control group (<0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture at Feishu (BL 13), Xinshu (BL 15), Ganshu (BL 18), Pishu (BL 20), Shenshu (BL 23), Geshu (BL 17), and Shenmen (HT 7) has better efficacy for menopausal insomnia than alprazolam.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Alprazolam ; therapeutic use ; Estradiol ; blood ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Luteinizing Hormone ; blood ; Menopause ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of alprazolam use on psychological status and hospitalization cost in patient with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia underwent electrophysiology studies or radiofrequency catheter ablation.

METHODSIn this prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 142 inpatients [77 males, mean age (43.1 +/- 14.5) years] were randomly assigned to receive alprazolam (0.4 mg qd at 10PM for 3 days, n = 72) or placebo (n = 70) 3 days before scheduled electrophysiology studies or radiofrequency catheter ablation. All patients were examined by the Chinese version of Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) at 24 hours before the procedure.

RESULTSCompared with the placebo group, the scores of somatization (1.38 +/- 0.40 vs. 1.65 +/- 0.56, P < 0.01), anxiety (1.50 +/- 0.39 vs. 1.69 +/- 0.50, P < 0.05), phobic anxiety (1.24 +/- 0.36 vs. 1.47 +/- 0.57, P < 0.01), psychotism constructs (1.24 +/- 0.34 vs. 1.35 +/- 0.30, P < 0.05) and global severity index (1.36 +/- 0.35 vs. 1.49 +/- 0.37, P < 0.05) were significantly decreased in alprazolam group. The hospitalization costs were also significantly lower in alprazolam group (32 498 +/- 1170) yuan compared to placebo group (32 947 +/- 1096) yuan, P < 0.05.

CONCLUSIONThe alprazolam use before electrophysiology studies and radiofrequency catheter ablation can improve the patients' psychological status and reduce the hospitalization costs.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Alprazolam ; therapeutic use ; Anti-Anxiety Agents ; therapeutic use ; Catheter Ablation ; economics ; psychology ; Double-Blind Method ; Female ; Hospitalization ; economics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Tachycardia, Paroxysmal ; psychology ; therapy ; Tachycardia, Supraventricular ; psychology ; therapy ; Young Adult

This study aims to explore and analyze the condition of concurrent diseases and medicine use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and western medicine among the patients with insomnia. One thousand and sxity seven cases of data from 20 national hospitals' hospital information system (HIS) databases were collected. The frequent concurrent diseases included hypertension (26.9%), brain blood supply insufficiency (24.93%), cerebral infarction (19.49%), blood lipoprotein disturbance (15.28%), coronary heart disease (14.15%), headache (10.68%), chronic gastritis (8.81%), type 2 diabetes mellitus (7.87%), depressive disorder (7.4%) and anxiety disorder (6.65%). The 10 most frequently-used western drugs included alprazolam (35.99%), aspirin (25.4%), olanzapine (24.18%), cinepazide (23.06%), flupentixol & melitracen (18.74%), zolpidem (18.37%), oxiracetam (15.65%), estazolam (15%), aniracetam (13.4%) and piracetam (13.31%). The 10 most frequently-used TCM included Shuxuening injection (16.4%), Shuxuetong injection (15.18%), extract of ginkgo biloba leaf (14.71%), gastrodin (12.46%), Dengzanxixin injection (11.34%), Xueshuantong (8.53%), Danhong injection (6.37%), compound liquorice tablet (5.81%), Sanqi Tongshu capsule (5.72%) and sowthistle-leaf ixeridium injection (5.34%). Among all combined uses, the most frequent western drug use was alprazolam and olanzapine, while combined use of hypnotic drug and Huoxuehuayu formula is the most frequent. This study concludes that the concurrent diseases mainly include cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, metabolic disorders and anxiety-depression disorders, with increasing tendency of diseases types by ages, especially for cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. The most frequently-used hypnotic is alprazolam in the insomnia patients, and it is worth being concerned about the off-label use of olanzapine as an antipsychotic for the treatment of insomnia However, due to the fact that all cases data are from the inpatients, these findings have some limitations.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alprazolam ; therapeutic use ; Anti-Anxiety Agents ; therapeutic use ; Antipsychotic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Benzodiazepines ; therapeutic use ; Cerebral Infarction ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Coronary Disease ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Headache ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Humans ; Hypertension ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; complications ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; Young Adult